Lago de Las Marias

Buenas

This week we did lots of lab work and spent a day in the field getting S02 measurements in a small village right on the volcano. It has been interesting talking to the locals about the Volcano because for the most part they do not have any clue about the hazards that loom over their villages. Some think the volcano erupts when the weather is hot, others think that it erupts snow sometimes, others think that the volcano is controlled by the Gods. On our way home we stopped in all the little villages and walked around. Without question we are starred at wherever we go, especially in these small villages on the slopes of the volcano where you don’t often see tourists. Each village without fail, has a central plaza with a fountain, benches and trees, a catholic church with a sweet bell tower, and cobblestone streets.

Last night an annual Colima party called Patetera started. It’s crazy. It started off with a parade which lasted from 9 pm to well past midnight. To name just a few of the things I saw last night: Horses, cowboys, trumpets, guitars, large sombreros, lots of alcohol, dancing, mayhem, drunk fights, thousands of people, people starring at me, police, machine guns, drunk drivers, tacos, the list goes on. It was crazy.

Good times

When I hear the phrase ¨Good times¨, I think of a little melody, ¨Good times, great oldies, Fox 97.¨ It was a classic rock radio station in Atlanta. Needless to say good times are being had here and I am currently listening to Neil Young.

This week we went back up to Nevado for 2 nights for thermal and S02 monitoring. Basically we hitch a ride up the mountain in the back a truck with the local civil protection group. We set up all the equipment, make sure it is working right, get weather data recorded every 30 minutes and hang out at 14,000 ft. It was quite cold and windy. The volcano exploded a few times but it was relatively quite. After 3 days and 2 nights we hitched a ride back down.

Friday afternoon we went to a beach town called Manzanillo. It´s actually one of the largest ports in Mexico. The US gets a lot of its goods through Manzanillowhich is then bused up to Houston. It´s also a huge drug port. Apparently there is a battle going on for control of the port, but for the most part the drug lords and other port officials work together.

That night we checked out downtown, which isn´t much because it a port town. Eventually we found a hostel owned by an awesome Canadian couple. It was seriously the coolest little place. 15 bucks a night, hot showers, pool, breakfast and only a 5 minute walk to the beach. Saturday on the beach was amazing.

The rest of the weekend, we partied. Well as much as we can I guess. Mexicans love a good tequilla and apparently American Football and Applebees.

Pocahontas and Lucha Libre

Jannes and Brandon went to Nevado on Thursday night and did not return until Saturday afternoon. Thus I had the house to myself for a few days.

Thursday night I went to a costume party. I dressed like a mariachi Mexican with a big leather poncho and a big sombrero. My dance moves remained white. Unfortunately I have not yet learned how to dance in the US nor Mexico, but it does not stop me from dancing. I met a cute yet quite girl at the party dressed as Pocahontas. I approached her and said, “Hola, me llamo John Smith.” She didn’t think that was funny. The party was fun though.

Friday I worked in the lab all day. I ate lunch at a place we call the Lunch Ladies. Three of four women make delicious homemade food everyday out of their house. It’s a full meal and it only costs 35 pesos, which is about $3.50. It’s a bargain.

Friday night I wandered around the city by myself. I have found the faster I try to speak in Spanish, the more difficult it is for people to understand me. Go figure. But when I speak slow I sound retarded. Either way I will probably get ripped off from people and I am pretty sure that happened Friday night.

Saturday night was the highlight of the weekend. Brandon and Jannes got back in the afternoon so Victor and Irving took us all to a lucha libre (Mexican wrestling match). I could not have asked for anything more. I wish I could portray what I saw last night in words, but I can't. I got some great footage though.

Technology

Last night BYU, I mean Jimmer, played against SDSU. We tried to find the channel on our friends satelitte dish network to no avail. So we resorted to gmail chat. My dad got on video chat and carefully placed his computer in a good position so that we could see the whole TV in his house on my computer screen in Mexico. Despite the poor quality internet connection, we were able to watch most of the 2nd half and cheer for BYU with Brandon and my dad. I might want to do that for every game.

Tonight Brandon and Jannes are heading up to the Nevado Observatory(I went last week). So I will have a few days to myself. My plans so far are to go to the grocery store. Maybe I´ll find a friend who wants to go for a hike or check out some of the nearby caves or maybe the beach again.

News

Our professor, Nick, is back in town and things are starting to pick up. Tomorrow we head out to the volcano for some more sulfer dioxide measurements of explosions. Saturday we are going to some hot springs associated with the volcano for some measurements. We have spanish lessons once a week for free. We all study at night together. I have been reading some of the scholarly literature on the volcano here. I am trying to decide what I want my project to be on. We now know our way around, we know the best restaurants, we know a good taxi driver from a bad one. We know cool people. My friend George from high school is coming in march to visit. We are going to travel for a week. I have a sweet little itinerary lined up. It includes another volcano, ruins, lakes, islands, rivers, the beach, tacos, and agua frescas. Speaking of islands, I get to take a navy ship out to a volcanic island a couple hundred miles off the coast in March. The only settlement there, is a small Mexican navy base. We will doing some sort of research out there. We have been cooking our own food for dinner. So far I have had eggs and potatoes and yesterday I had some fresh bread with peanut butter, a cumcumber and unripe peach. It was nice. I have had a lot of chances to learn to cook in my life and I have never taken advantage of it. I think now it´s finally time. Tonight I really hope to find a place to watch the much anticapted BYU SDSU basketball game. Go cougars.

La Playa Cuyutlan

Friday afternoon Brandon, Jannes (new german intern) and I went to the beach with Victor and Irving. Victor knew a sweet spot where we could make a fire and sleep on the beach in a little palm tree grove. The name of the beach is Cuyutlan. It’s a remote little beach town about 40 minutes from Colima. Friday night we went swimming, ate tacos around the fire and played music with a guitar, bongos, tambourine and harmonica. It was really fun. The new intern, Jannes, is super chill and our two Mexican friends, Victor and Irving, are really cool and nice.

Saturday morning we went swimming and boogie boarding. The waves were huge and fun but it turned out to be quite dangerous. Irving got sucked out in a rip tide and almost drowned. Brandon thankfully is a lifeguard and swam out to help him. It was an intense moment. Besides that, Saturday was really fun and relaxing. Oh and we saw a group of whales about 200 yards out too.

Volcan de Nevado

This past weekend has been quite eventful. Colima is probably the coolest place in Mexico. It is a small state with a small population. The climate ranges from high altitude alpine climate to tropical coastlands. Unfortunately, Colima has experienced several natural disasters. In 2002, Colima experienced an 8.0 earthquake destroying much of the city. Some friends of ours recounted their experiences and it sounded horrifying. They said they thought it was the end of the world. The quake only lasted for less than a minute but they felt it was hours. They said the tremor was so large they couldn’t move or run for cover. Many people just collapsed where they were. After the quake and destruction, they said there was a resounding echo of crying and screaming for loved ones. In 2004 there was a huge eruption from Volcan de Fuego that covered the city in ash and caused roofs of many houses to collapse. Additionally, the state of Colima is hit by huge hurricanes and occasionally tsunamis.

The Colima Volcanic Complex, as geologists call it, is composed of 2 enormous composite volcanoes, Volcan de Nevado and Volcan de Fuego. The two peaks are only 4 km apart but Nevado has been extinct for thousands of years. On Nevado’s peak is the volcanic observatory where I spent all day Thursday and Friday morning monitoring Volcan de Fuego. I went with 2 Mexican students from the University of Colima. We got to the top by hitching a ride with the bomberos (firemen). They go up in shifts to oversee the equipment at the top of Nevado and report an unusual activity to city authorities. So we climbed in the back of their truck with all our own equipment and warm clothes and made our way up to the 14,000 foot observatory.
I felt like I was on an airplane up there. The valleys below are 14,000 feet down. From the peak all the way to sea level. The view was awesome, but the view of the active Volcan de Fuego was the best.

At the top we set up the equipment and watched for explosions. We used a fly spec to measure S02 flux and camcorder to record eruptions. Usually we would also use a thermal camera but it was not working. While we waited we played cards, watched a movie on our laptop, ate tuna and crackers, tried to stay warm, and I went for a short hike. The volcano exploded 3 or 4 times on Thursday. It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen.

Face-to-face

So there is a camera set up on the roof of a nearby building that takes pictures of the volcano every 5 seconds. We went up there this morning just as a small eruption was taking place. This evening after work I went up there alone and watched the volcano as the sun went down. I have decided to make it a nightly routine. It was awesome. The weather is perfect; high of 85, low of 60 everyday.

Kirk is hard to say.

Kirk is difficult to say for Mexicans, so I have adopted Pancho as my Mexican name. This is how every conversation goes:

Mexican: What's your name?

Me: Pancho

Mexican: laughter...What's your real name?

Me: Kirk

Mexican: What? Keyrik? Kik?

Me: No, it's Kirk.

Mexican: Ok Pancho is good.